end of life education + doula training =
DSchool
Why Dying (D) School?
To transform who we are around dying
To practice living into endings and beginnings
To uncover + retrieve parts lost parts of ourselves
To learn what dying can look, sound, and feel like so when it’s happening, we can honor it’s power and love our beloveds out of the world with less fear and deep presence.
For some of us, curiosity about end-of-life is part of our human experience. Others, not so much. Many would rather not ever think about dying. I suspect that’s not you. You’re likely keenly interested in what dying is, how it works, why it matters, and what it IS.
A personal experience may have opened the door for you. Or a book. Or a non-ordinary experience. Now you’ve found yourself here, wondering how to take a deeper dive.
What is Dying School?
Dying School is an online 3-month investigation into the end of life: the physical/emotional parts, absurdities, mysteries, ordinary and non-ordinary experiences of breath leaving the body for the last time, and what we individually and culturally make that mean. By the end of the course, you will have a layered experience and transformed knowledge of what dying is. The culmination of the course is a multi-media experience where you’ll meet Lydia before her terminal diagnosis and follow her experience to just beyond her death.
We do this investigation together, in community. It matters that we engage this way because we learn from each other. We need each other.
There’s a thing that happens during the first few weeks of D-School when we stop being individuals in a class and become a group of people moving together. You’ll feel it. The click-in has its own timing. We can’t rush it because we can’t rush trust.
This work requires trust.
Trusting yourself.
Trusting the space as safe.
Trusting that your vulnerable self will be held.
It is vulnerable to step into a class to learn about dying. You’ll be learning how to be with someone at end-of-life, to care for someone you love while taking care of yourself.
You’ll enter into a conversation with yourself about your own mortality.
Previous participants have commented on how life-affirming and life-giving this course is. Tender and sad in moments? Yes. We laugh too. The connections and vulnerabilities between us hold us.
Our students, facilitators, and guest teachers are held with exquisite care from February - May. The container is strong. The students who arrive to learn are ready for the kind of growth and soul movement that happens here. This is not another class. This is work that will impact the way you dance with dying and living for the rest of your life.
When You’re Finished?
You can say you’ve been to D-School!
You can call yourself a death doula and begin offering this work in your community if you feel the call to do so.
You will have knowledge and skills to be with family members and friends at end-of-life, to serve as a strong volunteer in a hospice program near you.
A reminder: There is no governing body for death doulas, no test you must pass.
Registration Now Open for 2025
Join us for 11 classes + 11 Skills Gyms from February 7 though May 2, 2025.
Earlybird Tuition, $3497 or 6 monthly payments of $585 is available until December 1, 2024 or until 20 seats are filled.
December 2 - February 4, 2025, tuition is $3997 USD or 6 payments of $667 USD over 6 months. Course must be paid in full by May 2, 2025
In D-school, you join into a robust and beautiful community. Here’s the dream:
We will all help care for someone who isn’t a family member as part of our work in the world, lending ourselves to a fellow human being who needs us.
In the US, we are not equipped to care for the millions of baby boomers who will need end-of-life care in the next 15-20 years. We will get through this time by neighbor helping neighbor. My hope is that the cohorts of D-School will grow into a potent + kind + well-equipped community of carers to help as the need unfolds.
Every year, we have a great group of guest speakers and teachers for class conversations. In the past we’ve heard from Glee, Claudette, Noble, and Anne: beloveds who’ve shared stories from their last days. We’ve also heard from colleagues Amy Cunningham, William Peters, Sarah Kerr, Dr. Heather Veeder, Adriana Garza, all doing beautiful work in the world related to end-of-life and grief.
Got a question about D-School? Click the button below to book a complimentary 15-minute chat.
You’ll learn:
Mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of care for the dying person, family members, and yourself
Hospice: what it is and how to collaborate with the hospice team
Trajectory of dying through the senses: what caregivers will see, smell, hear, feel, and know as their person is making their way out of the world
The language of dying: understanding metaphors, movement, and behaviors as the dying person has one foot in this world and one foot in another
Rituals before and after death
Caring for the body at home after death + natural burial
Contemplative Care Practices
Ordinary + Non-ordinary experiences for the dying person and caregivers
Meaning making: how we make sense of what’s happening
Somatic embodiment: interpreting the language of the body
Tending anticipatory grief and grief after the death
From Alumni
“The Rachel video was so interesting. And that audio of her mom! Her mom sounded so sweet and confident in going home. The picture that Rachel painted was in stark contrast to my experiences of dying and death. I’m starting to question some of the lonnnng-held beliefs I have about it. Also I really appreciated that the interview felt intimate (b/c it was, but I could feel that too as the viewer) and deeply appreciated the moments of levity and humor.”
“This is an amazing program with Martha Jo Atkins. If this calls to you, don't miss this opportunity.”
“I experienced first hand not only your intelligence and wisdom taking your Dying School course, but perhaps what drew me to you on a more powerful level was your sense of calm, safety, connection to all that is, safety and love. I desperately wanted to feel safe, heard, seen, connected and loved - and receive all of that along with tools to keep me afloat, and hopefully even find my true value and finally grow into who i really am.”
“This is the class you need to take, you will learn about death and dying but most importantly you will learn to LIVE until you die without fear. Dr. Martha Jo Atkins, with all her expertise and experience, will help you understand death is as natural as living and that dying can be a beautiful event. After taking this class you will live your life completely different. Believe me, you won't regret it!”
D-School FAQs
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You have curiosities about end of life, dying, death, and an interest in deepening your knowledge. You feel called; you get it.
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No.
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There are no prerequisites beyond your curiosity.
Things of Practical Use:
Computer / Phone with a good internet connection
Web camera
All classes will take place virtually online.
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Registration usually opens in mid-November and runs through February until spots fill.
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Total Cost in 2024 was $3497.
Payment may be made in full or in 6 installments.
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Tuition refunds are offered less a $50 admin fee through January 31.
No refunds will be offered after February 1
Let’s go on this journey together.
You will be different when the cohort has finished. I don’t know how, I just know you will be. I will be, too. A grand adventure for all of us.